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Back in May 2020, Fort Lauderdale Police Department (FLPD) officer Steven Pohorence was thrust into the national spotlight after he was caught on video shoving a Black teenager as she kneeled during a protest over George Floyd’s murder.
The video (attached below) showed the white police officer pushing then-19-year-old Jada Servance into the pavement while she knelt with her hands in the air at a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Pohorence was charged with misdemeanor battery over the incident but acquitted after a jury trial in late 2022.
In September 2024, Servance filed a lawsuit in state court against Pohorence and the City of Fort Lauderdale. Her attorneys allege that Pohorence “took it upon himself to unprovokedly shove and push Ms. Servance to the ground,” resulting in her “being slammed into the street and landing on her shoulder and further injuring her lower back, causing her immediate pain and severe injuries.”
“Ms. Servance was peacefully exercising her right to be a voice for change,” attorney Joseph Madalon previously wrote in a statement to New Times.
Pohorence is no longer a defendant in the case after a judge granted his motions to dismiss in March, ruling that he was shielded by qualified immunity — the legal doctrine that protects police officers from being personally sued for actions taken while on duty. A trial date has nonetheless been set for the case, which now remains between Servance and the City of Fort Lauderdale.
Court records show that the trial is scheduled to begin on February 9, 2026.
On May 31, 2020, amid a national wave of anti-police brutality protests that followed Floyd’s death, thousands took to the streets across South Florida. In downtown Fort Lauderdale, Pohorence and a group of FLPD officers responded to a large demonstration that quickly escalated.
While the protest reportedly began peacefully, police unleashed tear gas and rubber bullets on demonstrators shortly after Pohorence shoved Servance to the ground, according to the Sun Sentinel. Notably, a rubber bullet from a weapon wielded by FLPD officer Eliezer Ramos struck LaToya Ratlieff in the face, smashing her eye socket and causing permanent nerve damage. (After Ratlieff sued Ramos and the city of Fort Lauderdale, the city settled the case in December 2024 for nearly $2 million.)
Photo by Alex Dixon/@dix.jpg
As previously reported by New Times, after Pohorence pushed Servance to the ground, FLPD officer Krystle Smith pulled him away from the crowd and admonished him for putting his hands on her.
A striking image captured by Miramar-based photographer Alex Dixon showed Smith reprimanding her colleague.
As of 2020, Pohorence had amassed at least 14 violent arrests and used force 74 times during his time with the department. Pohorence drew his firearm more than once a month on average since FLPD hired him in October 2016, according to personnel records obtained by the Miami Herald.
